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Projects of Place
The goal of Warfire Projects of Place initiatives is to affect the sense of place in the Mexican War Streets. Whether small public neighborhood statements of art and craft or larger more complex statements, Projects of Place provokes, inspires and revives the neighborhood. It is the intention of these projects to make it difficult for anyone walking through the streets of Mexican War to not be touched by something they see. The depth, neighborhood impact and philosophy behind the projects have not been expanded on however all projects have meaning that raises heads from despair. No projects on this list are intended for decorative trendy or superficial purposes. Place making must account for everyone. A child wholeheartedly wishing a snowman built in our town square will "stay a long time" will find meaning in ways unimagined by many other people.
War Fire Concept Art and Design Warfire is a powerful neighborhood place making event. Several streets in the Mexican War Streets are closed, torches are placed along the street and small bon fires are set at certain intersections. Seating, particularly couches are placed around the bon fires. Eclectic calming music is played in the background along the streets. The pond at the edge of our neighborhood holds small fires at the waters edge and is connected to the MWS event. The mood created by this event is overpowering, celebratory yet calming and thoughtful. Friends, neighbors and strangers meet and speak around the fires. Couples and friends walk through the streets together. In a time where community place making initiatives have been tried and proven effective as catalysts for change the following project, which also is the name for this web site, stands at the forefront of neighborhood placemaking which should have the highest impact meaning. The repeating event is a unique art and place based event called Warfire. It is commonly known that the soothing effect of fire and music can have a profound impact on people. The Warfire project may be considered or understood as an adaptation of a neighborhood revitalization project similar to the Providence Waterfire downtown event or other similar European or Asian events. The similarities include elements of fire and music. A major and very important difference is that Warfire promotes interaction among neighbors and strangers. The event sets the stage for strong connectedness among everyone in the North Side community. Warfire is a truly intimate experience as can be seen by the use of living room couches a fireplace and calming music. Warfire is a unique event specifically designed for The Mexican War Streets. The event would be one of the most defining attributes of the Mexican War Streets. Neighborhood definition or identity and a real human sense of a unique place is the definite way out of despair and improves the quality of life of people in our neighborhood.
Under Construction - This section is aging and needs to be reworked. Another change to this section will include support for family dollar and keystone however a rejection of the setback, and parking are still relevant. A strong rejection of strip business which would displace inner war streets business will still be the defining part of this section. Based on the principles highly pedestrian friendly and mixed use neighborhoods this project encourages small businesses in the Mexican War Streets. The ability to walk to all daily life stores within the Mexican War streets is the goal. The 2000 foot or five minute walk maximizes the mixed use spirit and neighborhood feel. An abundance of large chain local stores at our border can desensitizes the consumer experience which ultimate damages the community spirit of our neighborhood.. Current Situation:
Planning, Organization and Financing Support page for new Local Business
Implementation of the 2006 Brighton Road Plan This project tracts the implementation of the CMU Urban lab and Brighton Road Community Plan. Studio 1 of the CMU plan anchored a grocery Coop and an Urban Farm along the Mexican War Streets and California Kirkbride. Seed Projects: Projects that act as catalysts to development of this plan. Certain projects will set the stage for more green development along Brighton.
The towering brick walls that catch your attention between broken row houses are the subject of this project. Walking away from this attention grabbing wall spectacle reminds one of decline and ruin. These walls are overbearing in their plainness and demand to be noticed. The good thing about this is that art tastefully placed on these wall canvases will have an immediate audience. The idea is to place tasteful art on these walls. The metal sculptures below were designed and crafted by Steve Cambronne. For a house with a modern or retro interior one of the four foot sculptures below would fit well in the top corner wall on a broken row. Sculptures could be bolted into the top corner of a building or perhaps the center of a wall. Other ideas:
Urban Garden to Urban Farm project Placement of small farm towers and more substantial low stone walls. Add elements around and within the garden that encourage walkability and a destination for everyone. Identify more land that can be converted to urban gardens. Farm Towers: Imagine a small rustic windmill or wind direction tower in our urban gardens. Many small towers dot the landscape in Western PA. Some of these windmills are no more than 20 feet tall and are lightly framed so they could be easily removed. Permission from a farmer to relocate the wind mill, teardown, transport and setup are parts of this project that need attention from volunteers. Anyone who can successfully secure a mill should have a plaque dedicated to them throughout the ages. The search for the mill should be an interesting experience - get a partner and drive through the country side to find the tower. The farm country around Pittsburgh is absolutely beautiful.
Garden Theatre Arts, Entertainment and Walkable Living COOP District There are several large abandoned buildings bordering the park. The feel of the entire business district is dominated by a seedy porno theatre and by shady people ducking in and out. The city among others believe the theatre must go before business can move in. In effect they think the neighborhood will revitalize by controlling and cleaning the entire district and coming up with an all encompassing plan. On the surface this seems fine however the outcome of big project kind of thinking usually has an inorganic feel and includes chain type businesses that are not neighborhood friendly or are superficially neighborhood friendly. There is a fear that if the buildings are sold to certain people they will be speculated on and further delay the revitalization of the area.
The project of place for the businesses around the garden theatre rejects old school "big project" and "big idea" thinking and relies on arts based business initiatives to turn the area around. While it is true that many main stream businesses can not coexist next to a porn theatre there are several types of businesses and coops that thrive in problem areas. The creative energy and very mentality of the people inhabiting these spaces bring the seedy scene to an end. The process of artists positively redefining the worst areas has been proven and well documented. There has been for years attractive city sponsored incentives for artists to move into inner city areas in order to revive downtowns.
City of Pittsburgh and URA considerations
Placement of colored metal figures like a hobby horse low on telephone polls. There are many ugly highly visible poles in the War Streets. Something similar to the horse below would turn the scene around.
Other pole art ideas:
SafeStreets REALIZED The presence of good folks has a powerful impact on problem areas. The gardens, park and beauty around us sometimes makes us forget that we are a downtown community and their is some crime in the Mexican War Streets. The SafeStreets group meets the crime problem head on by meeting in problem areas in order to affect the mood and of the surrounding area. A grandma with a knitting basket or energetic young people walking through or standing in a dodgy areas has a powerful impact on the feel of the neighborhood. A weight seems to be lifted when this group enters a troubled area. Therefore according to the definition of art and place based initiatives the people within this group should be considered public art.
The Northern hillside borders of the Mexican War Streets hold a treasure trove of found art. Forgotten paths is an exploration of urban ruins and nature. It is a celebration and appreciation of art within our city ruins. Conversion of the northern MWS hillside into a natural museum is the goal of this project.
Seeking: Landscape Architect, Installation Artist, PM and grant writer for this project.
Trompe l'oeil Underpass Project In order for Mexican War folk to get to downtown they must choose to pass under one of several creepy underpasses. I chose Trompe l'oeil because I can not think of anything else to so with the freeways. If I remember correctly Denver did something along these lines. I remember being wowed when walking under the freeway. It was not a Trompe l'oeil technique but it was very successful at making me forget I was walking under a raised freeway. In fact the most inspiring memory I have of Denver is the freeway. It goes to show how a neighbor hood freeway scar can be made into a beautiful place to walk.
Walk to Pittsburgh and walk to the Waterfront Project Increasing the walkability and dignity of the pedestrian attempting to reach our neighborhood waterway shoreline or to cross our bridge to Pittsburgh is the focus of this project. The Northside has had a shoreline neighborhood forced upon it. This Northshore does not consider the Northsides walking access to the river or to Pittsburgh. The shore and downtown are accessible by foot and bike however the stadiums, freeway parking and bridge design decrease the walking experience because car traffic and non Northside consumers were targeted when developing Northshore. This project has three parts. 1. Holding accountable the stadiums, the casino and the city for funding. 2. Identifying sections of parking lot and massive structures which block bikes and walkers. 3. Gauge the walkability from our neighborhoods to points at the river and to downtown. Currently one can get to the river or downtown but on a scale of one to 10 considering individual values of walkability how is the experience felt. For example walking through the park portion may score high in most areas except during certain winter weather while underpass may score very low in sense of safety, feeling of belonging on the street among cars etc. 4. Implementation using public art like the "Trompe l'oeil Underpass Project" project above opening and marketing green paths to the city which connects Northside business areas and neighborhoods to down town and the waterfront.
Secret Pockets REALIZED The Following text was extracted from http://www.centralnorthside.com/June2006.pdf An installation made by the students of the Mattress
Northside Casino project block (This development will wash our neighborhood in seediness) Another big idea project to be dumped on the Northside. The fight that kills this project form happening on the north side certainly preserves our neighborhood and allows us to avoid the many nasty consequences of having a casino so close by. I hope someone on the north side will be able to step forward and lead a committee to come up with ideas to block this devastating blow to our neighborhood. This organization can help http://www.casinofreepa.org This is a a petition to help in the effort: PetitiontoRepealAct71.doc Latest information on this issue: Our leaders at the Northside Leadership Conference seem to have given up hope on blocking the issue however we can still block the casino however we will need to fashion our own leadership. Please contact bradsp@outworks,net if you can dedicate time to this effort. We need people to plan how to proceed and we need door to door petitioners. To Do:
The strong brick walls and roof of the row houses in the Mexican War streets allow for long flat garden ways in the sky. CAD Drawings http://www.safeguardwaterproofing.co.uk/info_support/cad_green_roof.php
The recording of everyone possible in the Mexican War Streets with a photo and brief quirky bio. The people of the War Streets will be published on the web for neighbors to see. It is the intention of this project to break down barriers and help people come together and see more in their neighbors. All the links between neighbors through other neighbors or similarities to others are generated through a relational database. Each users has a custom perspective into the database and is able to see a wealth of information about how anyone in the neighborhood relates to them. Needed - Project lead and software engineer
The Mexican War Streets is gifted with many alleyways. The alleyways are not well maintained and are considered functional and acceptably ugly. Currently the alleyways are populated with suburban minded automobile garages. The streets of Mexican War are beautiful but the walkable garden alleyways of Mexican War could be even more spectacular. The hope is to rip down the walls, connect the alleys with the yards and make more walkable garden space. The following image celebrates an alley greenway entrance with no automobile access.
Streetscape and Tree Planting Project <Dedicated page here> This group appears to be starting. A plan is in the works to plant trees. A tree lined Resaca should be duplicated to all of the War Streets.
Neighborhood Vision (1 year 5 years and 10 years) The following information is provided to those interested in building a comprehensive vision of our neighborhood as well as those interested in researching and pushing for implementation of short term solutions. The CNNC is currently assessing the neighborhood and a plan is in the works. Below is the Warfire blog.
Participating in the comprehensive neighborhood plan
Resources: The documentation and resources in this section focus on "Smart Growth" and "New Urbanism" While these fitting movements provide a framework and starting point we should keep a wary eye as we apply these ideals to our neighborhood and of course be free to reject ideals that do not fit. New Urbanism, Pedestrianism and Smart Growth works when used as a framework yet fails when used as dogma.
Major Topics Controlling crime and maintaining security by limiting neighborhood access. How do we find balance between neighborhood openness and security. If we wrapped ourselves in iron blankets I am sure we would be safe but this would be too much of a burden. For http://www.reason.com/0502/fe.st.crime.shtml Against http://www.cnu.org/news/index.cfm?formAction=press_release_item&press_release_id=57 New Urbanists are quick to discredit those for security based neighborhoods. The discussion played out a bit <here> ------------ Controlling the effects of gentrification How many low income houses do we need? How often are houses changing hands. What is being done in the community to slow and avoid this effect? How effective are the measures currently in place. ------------ Diversity and Social Integration
------------ Periphery Initiatives The future of Brighton road, West North and Federal Hill should eb explored. ------------ Schools Project
------------ Ownership vs Rental and housing plan
------------ Transportation and connectedness to downtown plan
------------ Inner Central Northside small Business initiatives See <Garden Theatre and Arts & Entertainment district> See <Northside Coop and Urban Agriculture initiative> ------------ ------------ Assessment info: Draft How fast are houses switching hands. How many houses are owned by Rental stock per streets Owner stock per street Crime per streets Black White per street Age groups per street How many people walk to downtown
------------ Professional Designers
------------ LOCATION EFFICIENCY SAMPLE Credit: Adjacent, Infill or Previously Developed Site (3 to 10 Points)
Requirements project on an adjacent site (3 points) OR (2) Locate project on an infill site (7 points)OR (3) Locate project on a previously developed site. (10 points)Each project can only earn points for one of the three options. Submittals
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